Monday, March 31, 2014

Boy Culture blogger Matt Rettenmund has compiled the first and last sentences from nearly 100 well-known gay novels. Andrew Holleran's Dancer From The Dance,
for example, opens and closes this way: First: "Ecstasy, it's finally
spring down here on the Chattahoochee—the azaleas are in bloom, and
everyone is dying of cancer. Last: “Go out dancing tonight, my dear, and
go home with someone, and if the love doesn't last beyond the morning,
then know I love you." Of all the novels cited, Larry Kramer's opening
line in Faggots is the one I remember best: "There are 2,556,596 faggots in the New York City area." Hit the link for an enjoyable time-waster.

All government employees are protected
by the U.S. Constitution against irrational discrimination based on
sexual orientation or gender identity. In addition, some measure of
protection already exists under Title VII based on gender, which has
been held to include gender identity and expression. The U.s. Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and several courts have
interpreted Title VII to protect transgender employees, and the EEOC has
interpreted Title VII to cover sexual orientation discrimination. The
Supreme Court has held that the EEOC's interpretation of Title VII are
entitled to "great deference."

Notice that New York shamefully continues to lack statewide gender
identity protections, despite such a bill passing in the state Assembly six times.
Maryland will join the 17 states with full LGBT employment protections
when Gov. Martin O'Malley signs the transgender rights bill approved by the state legislature last week. There's only one way to turn the entire map green: ENDA.

Outsports reports that NCAA defensive end Mitch Eby came out to
his Chapman University teammates earlier this month. Eby first told his
two roommates, both also players, then opened up to his head coach, who
agreed to allow Eby to address the full team. An excerpt from his speech:

"I came up here today to talk to you
guys about something that I've been dealing with for quite a while. It's
something personal that I've always thought I could just bury away, but
I can't. We live life so worried about how other people view us that we
forget about ourselves. I can no longer go on living in fear,
repressing myself because of how society may view me. I can no longer
lie to my friends, family and teammates. It's time I lived life for
myself for a change. With that being said, I am ready to share with you
all that I am gay. It has taken me years to accept myself for who I
truly am, so it's irrational to expect everybody to unconditionally
accept me right away. However, the one thing that I hope that I can
count on from each of you, my teammates, is your respect. Your respect
as a friend, your respect as a teammate, and your respect as a man."

"Mitch is demonstrating great courage
and leadership by publicly coming out as gay while still actively
playing college football. While the decision to take this step is a
deeply personal one, it impacts countless other young closeted athletes
who will wrestle with how to compete and live their lives authentically.
Today represents another important step in making sports a welcoming
environment for all."

Because we imagine anger is never a
good thing, it is easy to think we should practice simply not being
angry. But that approach is too general and abstract. It’s important for
each of us to be precise, to be real, to be personal and honest, to
find out exactly what my anger is. To do that we need to ask ourselves
lots of questions about its actual nature.

March 31, 2014
| New at Tricycle: We continue our ongoing mission to eliminate Buddha
misquotes; a visit to S. N. Goenka in 1970s India; Roshi Pat Enkyo
O'Hara gets intimate; we host an Enlightening Conversation; and we offer
you a last chance to watch Souls of Zen, our Film Club selection this month.

MAGAZINE: WHAT THE BUDDHA NEVER SAID

There are lots of fake Buddha quotes floating
around, but the granddaddy of them all is “There is no self.” Theravada
Buddhist monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu goes all the way back to ancient India’s debate culture to explain the origins of this dubious quote.

Internet giant Mozilla, the makers of the popular Firefox browser, have issued a statement
which emphasizes their support for same-sex marriage. Controversy
erupted last week when Mozilla appointed CEO Brendan Eich, who in 2008
donated to the backers of Proposition 8. An excerpt from the statement:

Mozilla’s mission is to make the Web
more open so that humanity is stronger, more inclusive and more just.
This is why Mozilla supports equality for all, including marriage
equality for LGBT couples. No matter who you are or who you love,
everyone deserves the same rights and to be treated equally. We realize
that not everyone in our community or who uses our products will agree
with this. But we have always maintained that as long as you are willing
to respect others, and come together for our larger mission, you are
welcome. Mozilla’s community is made up of people who have very diverse
personal beliefs working on a common cause, which is a free and open
internet. That is a very rare and special thing.

Hampton Caitlin, a Firefox developer who with his husband last week
announced a boycott of Mozilla, has tweeted his pleasure with this
development.

I worry that Mozilla is in a tough
spot right now. I worry that we do a bad job of explaining ourselves,
that people are angry and don’t know who we are or where we stand. And, I
worry that in the time it takes to work this through and explain
ourselves the things I love about Mozilla will be deeply damaged. And I
suspect others do too. If you are a Mozillian, I ask that you help the
people around you understand who we are. And, if you have supported
Mozilla in the past are frustrated or angry with us, I ask you for
kindness and patience. What Mozilla is about is working through these
things, even when they’re hard. Because the web need us to. It’s that
important.

Through art, a painter can make the ordinary come alive. As Zen students, we try to bring this kind of relevance into each moment of our lives, into this one moment that contains all moments. In this way, we allow the ordinary to enliven us. Sometimes this is successful, sometimes not, but the work itself goes on. Persistence is one of the major virtues in both the artist and the unenlightened.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Searching for Self | March 29, 2014

This mind that we identify as the self, which we could call ego-mind, controls everything we do. Yet it can't actually be found—which is somewhat spooky, as if a ghost were managing our home. The house seems to be empty, but all the housework has been done. The bed has been made, our shoes have been polished, the tea has been poured, and the breakfast has been cooked.

According to a poll of likely 2016 voters commissioned by the Human Rights Campaign, voters view gay people more favorably than they do evangelicals. Via the Huffington Post:

On Thursday the Human Rights Campaign and Americans for Marriage Equality released the results of a study, entitled "Victory In Sight", conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and TargetPoint Consulting that investigated the nuances of voters' views on marriage equality. More than a simple matter of "Should gays and lesbians be allowed to marry?", the poll looked at shifts in opinions over time, reasons for such shifts, and differing opinions among ages, faiths, geographic areas and more.

Wonder Woman Sends Love To Tomboy

Last night LGBT ally Lynda Carter posted the above message on her Facebook page. Her fans are applauding and one responded, "Lynda Carter just became more of a hero to me for this post. This was me in the late 70's early 80's." (Via theRandy Report)

RELATED: In 2011 Lynda Carter was the grand marshal of the NYC Pride parade, which took place less than 48 hours after Gov. Cuomo signed the marriage equality bill into law. She told the press that it was a privilege to have participated on such a historic day. Last year Carter was the grand marshal of Washington DC's pride parade.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Technology news site ArsTechnica reports that numerous Mozilla staffers are today tweeting demands for the resignation of CEO Brendan Eich.

This morning, a number of Mozilla
employees took to Twitter with a united, nearly simultaneous message to
new Mozilla Foundation CEO Brendan Eich: "Step down." Brendan Eich's
Prop 8 donations come to light, and internal response is mixed. The
internal response began this morning with two tweets from Mozilla Open
Badges project lead Chris McAvoy. "I love @mozilla but I'm disappointed
this week." He then made a more pronounced declaration: "I'm an employee
of @mozilla and I'm asking @brendaneich to step down as CEO." Within
minutes, many other Mozilla employees followed suit, using similar
language or copying each other's statements outright. Those included
Mozilla Festival curator Chloe Vareldi, partnerships lead John Bevan,
designer Jessica Klein, and engagement team member Sydney Moyer. McAvoy
added that he feels fortunate to work at a company like Mozilla, "where I
can say that without fear of retribution."

Enlightening Conversations

A New Series Exploring the Intersection of Buddhism & Psychoanalysis

In
this groundbreaking series, there will be no prepared papers from any
speakers. Instead, there will be structured conversation that is open
and impromptu. You are welcome to join the conversation between the
audience and the speakers whether or not you have knowledge or
experience of Buddhism or psychoanalysis. If you have an interest in
what these two contemplative disciplines do, please consider joining us.

“Opportunities and Obstacles in Human Awakening” is the debut conference of the Enlightening Conversations series, in which psychoanalysts and Buddhist teachers will speak openly and honestly about the nitty-gritty of liberation.

7.5 CECs are available for those who attend the program in its entirety.
The Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts (IRSJA) is approved by
the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education.
The IRSJA maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Spiritual realization is relatively
easy compared with the much greater difficulty of actualizing it,
integrating it fully into the fabric of one’s daily life. Realization
is the movement from personality to being, the direct recognition of
one’s ultimate nature, leading toward liberation from the conditioned
self, while actualization refers to how we integrate that realization in all the situations of our life.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

On Monday, Mozilla appointed a new CEO who in 2008 donated $1000 to the Prop 8 campaign. Yesterday a boycott was announced by a married gay couple that runs a development company that produces products for Mozilla's Firefox browser.

Hampton Catlin, creator of Wikipedia
Mobile and CSS extension language Sass, said he would no longer develop
apps for Firefox after Eich's appointment. Catlin and his husband run a
development firm called Rarebit which makes a game called Color Puzzle
and was set to bring a dictionary app to Firefox Marketplace. In a blog
post, Catlin wrote: "As a married gay couple who are co-founders of this
venture, we have chosen to boycott all Mozilla projects. We will not
develop apps or test styles on Firefox any more. This is in protest of
the appointment of Brendan Eich to the position of CEO of the Mozilla
Foundation, where he had previously served as CTO. We will continue our
boycott until Brendan Eich is completely removed from any day to day
activities at Mozilla, which we believe is extremely unlikely after all
he’s survived and the continued support he has received from Mozilla.”

It wasn't until the Supreme Court overturned Prop 8 that the couple
married. Catlin was also able to sponsor a visa for his British husband
with the overturn of DOMA. The couple married at San Francisco City Hall
on the very day of the Prop 8 ruling, landing their story on the front
page of the New York Times. Read Catlin's blog post about the boycott and his open letter to Mozilla.

"I like the term 'homo'! I use it all the time – about myself and
others, although I also often use 'fag' as well. The gay thought-police
would be aghast, but the intent is what matters. Mine is mostly benign.
Mostly. But mainly, one great legacy of the gay community has been our
love of freedom, especially of speech. For centuries and decades, the
right to free speech was our only truly secure constitutional right. We
were always about enlarging what was sayable, rather than restricting
it. Banning 'homosexual' also reeks of insecurity. We are not so tender
we cannot handle a clinical, neutral term, or even a slur or the
re-appropriation of a slur. 'Queer' was one such reclamation, although
that’s much more pointed than 'homosexual' and certainly doesn’t reflect
how I feel about my orientation. There’s nothing queer about being
horny and falling in love or lust or getting married. They’re among the
most common activities known to humankind. But I sure don’t mind others
using it – and more and more heteros want to call themselves 'queer'
too. But my main objection to getting rid of 'homosexual' is that we
would lose a not-too-easily replaced non-euphemism." - Andrew Sullivan, writing in response to the New York Times article about the "vanishing" usage of "homosexual" by the media thanks to prodding by groups such as GLAAD.

Sullivan and I agree about "homosexual" but not quite for the same reasons (many of you here strongly disagreed with mine). He goes on to express blistering contempt for "LGBT."

God I hate that “word”. It describes
no single person; it cannot be spoken easily; it reeks of bullshit. No
one started using that word of their own accord as a way to describe
herself. It was created by leftists who believe that all oppressed
groups are primarilly defined by their oppression and that the very
different lives and identities of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and
transgender are somehow all one. I know it’s an effort at inclusion. I
appreciate the good intent. And if it had any wit or originality,
instead of sounding like a town in Croatia, I could live with it. But it
doesn’t.

I like LGBT - most of all for its writing utility as an umbrella term.
But while I grok why it's done, I do sometimes feel that the
ever-growing number of letters sometimes tacked onto the end of LGBT are
worthy of the eye-rolling it receives from inside our community and
mockery it gets from our enemies. Which takes me back to my appreciation
for the catch-all "queer," which to me simply means anybody who isn't
heterosexual.

The bodhisattva aspiration is an
everyday matter—everyday both in the sense of needing to be renewed as
each day passes, and in the sense of applying to simple tasks, to
ordinary actions motivated by a longing to reduce the difficulty and
increase the happiness of those with whom we share our lives.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

May these vows and this marriage be blessedMay it be sweet milk, this marriage, like wine and halvahMay this marriage offer fruit and shade like the date palmMay this marriage be full of laughterOur every day a day in paradiseMay this marriage be a sign of compassionA seal of happiness here, and hereafterMay this marriage have a fair face and a good nameAn omen, as welcomes the moon in a clear blue skyI am out of words to describe how spirit mingles in this marriage

The newly named CEO of Mozilla, the makers of the Firefox brower, is
Brandon Eich, who gained headlines in 2008 when it was revealed that he
had donated $1000 to the backers of Proposition 8. From his personal blog:

A donation that I made in support of
California Proposition 8 four years ago became public knowledge and
sparked a firestorm of comments in the last few days, mostly on Twitter.
People in other countries or other U.S. states do not know why
“Mozilla” was listed in the donation data. Donors above a certain amount
are required by the State of California to disclose their employer.
Mozilla had nothing to do with the donation. I’m not going to discuss
Prop 8 here or on Twitter. There is no point in talking with the people
who are baiting, ranting, and hurling four-letter abuse. Personal hatred
conveyed through curse words is neither rational nor charitable, and
strong feelings on any side of an issue do not justify it. In contrast,
people expressing non-abusive anger, sadness, or disagreement, I
understand, grieve, and humbly accept.

For someone who is "not going to discuss Prop 8", he manages to on for several more paragraphs. (Tipped by JMG reader Chris)

This decision by World Vision to
equate homosexual "marriage" to natural marriage between a man and a
woman is in direct conflict with the Holy Scriptures. The first chapter
of Romans is very clear. World Vision has abandoned the warning of Paul
and compromised the integrity of a ministry financially supported by
Christians who regard Scripture as the final authority on the issue.
Christians who support World Vision should stop as should all of the
artists and authors who raise money for them. There are many other
organizations that sponsor children around the world who remain true to
the gospel. If you would like to express your thoughts or cancel your
financial support to World Vision, you can contact them here.

Silence does not disappear when it is
broken; for those who are not distracted, silence limns language as the
necessary condition that exposes both its richness and its fragility.
Silence is not just in the gaps and spaces that punctuate sentences but
also within words as the lack that renders them fully articulate. To
know what a person says, we must hear what remains unsaid. If we cannot
hear silence, we do not know how to listen.

The New York Times yesterday explored the vanishing use of the word "homosexual" by almost everybody except anti-gay groups.

Consider the following phrases:
homosexual community, homosexual activist, homosexual marriage.
Substitute the word “gay” in any of those cases, and the terms suddenly
become far less loaded, so that the ring of disapproval and judgment
evaporates. Some gay rights advocates have declared the term off limits.
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or Glaad, has put
“homosexual” on its list of offensive terms and in 2006 persuaded The
Associated Press, whose stylebook is the widely used by many news
organizations, to restrict use of the word.George P. Lakoff, a professor
of cognitive science and linguistics at the University of California,
Berkeley, has looked at the way the term is used by those who try to
portray gays and lesbians as deviant. What is most telling about
substituting it for gay or lesbian are the images that homosexual tends
to activate in the brain, he said. “Gay doesn’t use the word sex,” he
said. “Lesbian doesn’t use the word sex. Homosexual does.” “It also
contains ‘homo,’ which is an old derogatory,” he added. “They want to
have that idea there. They want to say this is not normal sex, this is
not normal family, it’s going against God.”

Back in the 90s when some of our people began to reclaim "queer," I
understood so many others in our community objected. The visceral unease
that some experience when hearing or seeing the word "queer" - even in a
benign, supportive or celebratory context - may never fade for those of
us whose most vivid playground memories are the vicious-by-design games
of "smear the queer." Still, I relished the fuck-you-ness of taking
"queer" back and I defiantly wore my Queer Nation t-shirt until it
disintegrated into gay-friendly cotton molecules.
Similarly, I do get why many consider "homosexual" to be cold, clinical,
and reductive. But so too is "heterosexual" - and straight people
certainly don't instinctively flinch at the term. For many people, the
20th century (ish) reappropriation of "gay" continues to carry an
inherent, even subliminal, subtext of happiness - of a carefree life
unburdened by shame or guilt or regret. And that's both wonderful and
exactly why our enemies impotently flail against its usage. I don't
disagree with those who complain that "homosexual" can be, often
deliberately, a crude reduction of all-that-we-are to to merely
who-puts-what-where.
But it cannot be denied that the epiphany that led us all here to take our first tentative steps on the yellow brick road was based in our acceptance that society's who-puts-what-where edict doesn't work for us.
"Homosexual" may feel like a linguistic anachronism, but to my mind
that word is merely the foundation upon which we build our culture. It's
our starting point. I don't like giving the haters the satisfaction of
watching us try to bury "homosexual." I wish we wouldn't do it.

Free Your Mind: Practice Vipassana Meditation

Vipassana meditation is a widely used relaxation practice that can be done easily by beginners, with great results!

After
years of heavy addiction, Chris Grosso found himself literally on his
knees, utterly lost and broken. Grasping for life, he needed to find a
new path, one that went beyond conventional religious or spiritual
doctrine—one free of bullshit. Indie Spiritualist
(Beyond Words Publishing, 2014) empowers readers to accept themselves
as they are, in all their humanity and imperfect perfection. In this
excerpt learn the basics of vipassana meditation, a simple relaxation
practice that can be done by anyone and in any setting.

Vipassana Meditation

Besides
being asked, “What’s an Indie Spiritualist?” the second most common
question I’m typically asked is “What type of meditation do you
practice?”

While I personally practice many different types of
medita­tion—never feeling like I have to stay within the confines of
only one tradition—I typically respond with vipassana, as I’ve
found it to be the most universally applicable form of meditation
around. Any form of meditation that resonates with you—whether guided,
man­tra, movement, and so forth—will definitely be of benefit.

I
adore meditation because there are countless ways to meditate, with no
particular style being any better than another. It’s all about what
resonates with you. You can find many free guided medita­tions online by searching Google or YouTube, as well as by visiting your local library. Most meditation
practices are to spirituality what Bob Ross was to painting—very laid
back and go with the flow. And while your practice may not provide you
with happy little trees, it will over time create a greater sense of
peace, clarity, and serenity in your life, and that’s sorta like happy
little trees, right?

Through years of drug addiction, I did
considerable damage to myself, resulting in heavy bouts of depression
and anxiety. For years, I relied on antidepressant and anti-anxiety
medications to keep me in a somewhat balanced state, but after
cultivating a dedicated meditation practice I eventually found myself at
a place where, under doctor supervision, I was able to taper off the
medication and no longer needed it.

Let me make it perfectly clear, however, that there is absolutely nothing wrong
with taking prescribed medication for conditions like anxiety,
depression, and so forth. I recognize that they were very nec­essary in
my life at that time, as I was very chemically off-balance. There is
nothing unspiritual about taking prescribed medication when needed, because our own mental and emotional well-being must come first before we can truly help others.

Whether
we are on medication or not, meditation practices will certainly help
us to not only cultivate more calm in our lives, but also to handle
things like stress, anxiety, and depression in gentler ways. For the
benefit of those who are new to meditation, I’m providing these simple
guided instructions for the practice of vipassana.

There is no such thing as two
people—whether baby and mother, two lovers, or teacher and student—being
perfectly in sync with each other’s needs and wishes. Real intimacy
arises from an ongoing process of connection that at some point is
disrupted and then, ideally, repaired.

To be able to suffer with is good news
because it means you can share power with, share joy with, exchange love
with. Let your pain tell you that you are not alone. What we thought
might have been sealing us off can become connective tissue.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Nirvana is not another realm or
dimension but rather the clarity and peace that arise when our mental
turmoil ends, because the objects with which we have been identifying
are realized to be shunya [empty]. Things have no reality of
their own that we can cling to, since they arise and pass away according
to conditions. Nor can we cling to this truth.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Michigan's ban on gay marriage is
unconstitutional, a federal judge said Friday as he struck down a law
that was widely embraced by voters a decade ago - the latest in a recent
series of decisions overturning similar laws across the country. U.S.
District Judge Bernard Friedman announced his ruling after a rare
two-week trial that mostly focused on the impact of same-sex parenting
on children.There was no indication that
the judge was suspending his decision. Attorney General Bill Schuette
said he was immediately filing a request with a federal appeals court to
suspend Friedman's decision and prevent same-sex couples from
immediately marrying. The decision was released shortly after 5 p.m.,
when most county clerk offices in Michigan were closed. Clerks issue
marriage licenses.Seventeen states and the
District of Columbia issue licenses for same-sex marriage. Since
December, bans on gay marriage have been overturned in Texas, Utah,
Oklahoma and Virginia, but appeals have put those cases on hold.

People are afraid that if they let go
of their anger and righteousness and wrath, and look at their own
feelings—and even see the good in a bad person—they're going to lose the
energy they need to do something about the problem. But actually you
get more strength and energy by operating from a place of love and
concern. You can be just as tough, but more effectively tough.